Perfect Expectations
by Myra109
Summary: King Beast was a control freak and a perfectionist; he admits it. But he knows that he shouldn't have put as much pressure as he did on his son. Things didn't have to end this way. Self harm, verbal abuse, alcoholism, other warnings inside, part of my Light of My Life series


_WARNINGS: SELF HARM, ALCOHOLISM, EMOTIONS OF MENTAL ILLNESS, VERBAL ABUSE AND VERY VAGUE PHYSPICAL ABUSE AND BULLYING_

 _This is much darker than the others and since we never really got to know Ben's father in the books or movie, I can't exactly call him OOC, but he isn't like everyone expects._

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Descendents**

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Adam Beast loved his son, but as Ben grew older, he could tell his child never saw it that way. He saw his father as a perfect king, one that needed everything in his control.

Maybe he was. After all, his father had put just as much pressure on him as a prince until the... ahem, incident. The king would never forget how he loathed the expectations and when he grew old, horror exploded in his heart as he realized that he was becoming just like his dad. His dad, who was currently in a mental hospital for insanity brought on by multiple mental illnesses that he'd apparently had since before Adam was born.

When Ben was three and burned himself on the tea pot as he tried to help his father (who had a rather bad case of the flu at the time) get his morning tea, he just scolded him. Called him a klutz and that a good king would never do that, not even at three.

When Ben was five and made a birthday card for his dad, Adam, who was in a bad mood after a council meeting gone bad, through it in trash right in front of his son. Ben had grabbed it out and Adam smacked his son's hand, yelling that kings don't grab things out of the trash.

When Ben is eight and Belle is comforting him after a nightmare, Adam is drinking his frustrations away in the kitchen. Later in his life, Ben tells him how much he hates his dad for never being there on those sweat and tear drenched nights filled with terror and Adam crumples in shame.

When Ben is twelve and comes home covered in bruises after being beaten by bullies from school, Adam shouts that he should have stood up for himself like a good king.

When Ben is fourteen and his father sees the cuts on his wrist, he didn't say a thing. And when he finally did when Ben is almost fifteen, he calls his son crazy and storms off to drink some more. Quite ironic really with the man's own constant mood swings.

When Ben is sixteen and falls in love with the purple haired girl from the Isle of the Lost, Adam gets mad. He locks himself in his room for three days and comes out, having drank more alcohol than any man should drink in his life, much less in less than a week.

Until he walks in on the twenty year old couple, who were visiting for Christmas that year. They were both crying, Mal in Ben's arms as he rubbed her stomach.

"We'll work it out, Mal. I've got my mom in my corner and you have Jay, Carlos, and Evie in your's. We'll raise this baby to the best of our ability," Ben whispered, tilting Mal's head up to kiss her softly.

"But, Ben, I'm scared. I-I don't want to be like my mother," Mal whimpered as she wrapped her arms around her husband's neck and traced a series of thin scars on her wrists.

"You are not like your mother," Ben said, firmly. "Just like I am not like my father. We'll be different, Mally. I promise."

He took one of her pale arms and ran a gentle finger over a white line etched deep in the skin. "These are your battle scars. We both have them, and we're alive. We'll pass our courage and strong will onto our children, not in the same form obviously, and we'll give them the lives that we never got."

Mal took his wrist and traced the several scars on his fore arm and then, they kissed and Adam unstuck his boots from the carpet and walked away.

* **EPILOGUE** *

Adam turned his life around after that incident. He became the best grandfather he could to Miky and Eve and although he never fully forgave Maleficent, he begrudgingly accepted her as the grandmother of the children.

Adam's liver failed (a tragic consequence of his alcohol abuse years earlier, which he'd recovered from) a month after his oldest great grand child, Molly, was born. Belle joined him a good seven years after ward and he didn't see Ben, Mal, or their children until decades after that, fortunately.

When Adam hugged his son and apologized in the hospital room after Mal had given birth to Miky, Ben broke down and cried. That's when Adam realized that Perfection was merely word and nothing, nor no one, was perfect. Not even him.

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 _Tell me what you think! I think I'll be doing Audrey next. Thank you for all of your great suggestions; I am very grateful. If you have any character ideas, just tell me. Thanks and sorry for the long wait._


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